The future of Ramsgate and Thanet

The decline of the British seaside resort is very interesting. If you look at where has prospered, and where has suffered, invariably, the ones that have suffered most, are the ones that have tried to guess what people want, and give it to them, and those that have prospered have done the opposite, and simply been content to be what they were.

Thanet is a great example. Take Margate. It changed itsef from a nice little town into the southern version of Blackpool, built dreamland and had some good years. What happened when people tired of kiss me quick hats, and a small stationary fair, in the face of cheap Spanish holidays, with far better accomadation than Margate had to offer, Alton Towers, Chessington, Thorpe Park etc? It simply couldn't/wouldn't change, and so began it's slow decline and death as a seaside resort. A nice beach is simply not enough!

The same is true of Ramsgate, Pleasureama, the Hoverport, the Pavillion, the port, Model village etc etc ALL died because times and what people want change. No matter how much people may not like it, the opinions, needs, wants and requirements of the great British public are fickle, and unless somewhere is able to accomadate change it will die.

Take Broadstairs, it has never tried to be anything other than a quaint seaside town. No fairground, no port, no huge amusement centre, just a nice little quaint seaside town. It's the ONLY place in Thanet that's thriving!

Margate now has the Turner, that is bringing people, and people are the life blood of any town that relies on tourism. Without footfall to capitalise on, everything else is meaningless. From that base, properity can flow. Starting 80 artists in an artists qtr is all very laudable, but it employs at best 100 people, and only a very few talented people can be self employed artists. Don't get me wrong, that investment has it's place, but so does the likes of the Turner, hotels, flats, supermarkets, amusements, restuarants, venues, pubs bars etc etc etc.

To concentrate on a single particular sector is folly, as is when spending large amounts of cash trying to make a town attractive, spending it on something that could and probably will become "out of fashion" some years down the line, at which point, it will be held on to for far to long, until it eventually collapses, a great case in point being Dreamland/Ben Bon brothers.

The most successful holiday towns have either NEVER changed, or embrace change. To try to hold onto what once worked, hoping it will again will only ever be a mistake.